Grave-diggers have been busy lately here in Nebraska, but it has nothing to do with the death-rate, which appears to be holding steady (although hippies in Nebraska--those "flower children" of the 1960s, now in their late 50s, early 60s--are becoming a noticeable portion of the deaths, soon to be fading away faster, and in greater numbers, than those valiant 80-90-year-olds of the Greatest Generation).
Grave-diggers haven't been digging new graves; they've been really busy undigging old graves.
Lots and lots of old graves, some of them 50 years old or older.
It's become a scandal, the newspapers of the state blaring forth with banner headlines almost every day the past few weeks.
Apparently Nebraska is the only state of the 50 states--the only one--where it is the county attorney, and not a physician, who determines the "official" cause of death.
It's been that way since statehood in 1867, it's based upon ancient English common law, and it's not likely to be changed anytime soon, despite this recent spate of unmausoleumings.
The latest involves the death of a woman more than 30 years ago, in the southwestern part of the state, who was discovered with a rope twisted around her neck, a knife stuck in her back, and a broken ankle.
The county attorney at the time stated the cause of death as "suicide."
The long-ago county attorney had good and valid reasons--at least from a legal insight and perspective--for decreeing that, although now it appears he may have--or may not--have been wrong.
County attorneys in Nebraska do not like this responsibility, quite reasonably thinking themselves not especially competent in things medical, but it's the law, and county attorneys obey it.
There have been suggestions--since 1917, actually--that Nebraska set up an official medical examiner, taking that onerous responsibility away from the county attorneys, but the problem is, the taxpayers of Nebraska, as with the taxpayers everywhere else, are overburdened as it is, with our supergenerous welfare spending.
Such as when the taxpayers forked over $750,000+ in three years to provide state-of-the-art psychiatric treatment to some kid, so as to prevent him from hurting himself and others.....and then the kid goes out and shoots up a shopping mall, and himself, anyway.
Nebraska can't afford an official state medical examiner, because of these other expenses.
So we're stuck with what we have.
Usually, when someone dies in a hospital, a physician will tell the county attorney the cause of death, after which the county attorney rubber-stamps it. Being a legal professional, an attorney is not like to dispute the conclusions of a medical professional in matters medical.
But about 20% of all Nebraskans die at home.
And that's where the trouble starts; a physician, not being present--or not even ever having been aware the individual existed--is reluctant to draw conclusions about something he has not personally observed.
So the county attorney has to make his own conclusions.
And some of these apparently have been real Whoppers; several this past week alone, now involving disinterment and examination by professional medical personnel. There's been lots and lots of certificates of death, some going back 50 years or more, remember, that have had to be corrected.
You know, I always kind of wondered about this. When I was in college, an older brother of mine died in his sleep at home; he was 40 years old. This was in Lincoln, Nebraska.
After I formally inspected and acknowledged it as being the body of my brother, I noticed that the first person contacted was the Lancaster County Attorney. I had no idea why it was this way, but that's the way it was.
What was also unusual about it was that this brother lived well within the city of Lincoln, which has its own very large police department, but these were guys from the Lancaster County Sheriff's office, usually out patroling the rustic areas of the county, crowded in this house.
Now I guess I know why things were the way they were, and why a physician was, like, number 8 on the list of the Top 10 people to summon.
(Of course, in this instance, the cause of death, cardiac arrest, was easily discernible, and the county attorney made exactly the right call on it.)
Okay, summing up, going back to this latest scandal, actually it appears the long-ago county attorney made the best judgement he could possibly make, on that one woman with a rope twisted around her neck, a knife stuck in her back, and a broken ankle.
An attorney does not think like a physician or a policeman; an attorney thinks like an attorney.
There existed no evidence a second person had been in the house where that woman died; there existed no evidence of any forced entry; there existed no evidence of any threats.
Due to the lack of any such evidence, the long-ago county attorney, making a decision based upon facts, had to reasonably conclude the woman did it herself. He probably didn't feel comfortable arriving at that decision, but for lack of anything suggesting a different possible occurrence, he had to come to that conclusion.
It's all very interesting, and there's a lot of it going on, since early January of this year.
